Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 28

Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Nov 15th 2023 from 1300-1500

Today, only Johnny and Hung were available to do the Sunnybank Street Outreach as Qin Hao hurt his back and Amy occupied by another ministry. It was a hot day but the trees and building around the bus stop is always good to provide enough shade. The real tough situation was the general indifference to the gospel particularly by the Mainlanders. Nevertheless, the Spirit still guided us to approach many non-believers from different cultural background. Recap is the Batte Log of Hung.

1) My first approach was to a Mainlander student who show great reluctance to the gospel despite he still listened to it half-heartedly. When the bus came, he refused to take a tract to read.

2) Thanks God I was led to chat with a big guy form Jolin of the North Eastern Country of Chin. we bonded in many aspects of language and culture as he is not Han people group but a Manchurian people, as such we have a very care free chat. Then I was able to share the gospel to him which he was delighted to listen and took a tract when the bus arrived.

3) Rejected by an English-speaking lady with the most common excuse of "all good"

4) Approached yet another Filipino old lady but rarely was declined for a chat.

5)Then I approached a pair of Indian sisters who also showed great indifference to gospel but rather carried on with her smart phone texting games.

6) By the mercy of God, I finally hook up with an old lady from Shenyang Liaoning. Surprisingly she was very soft heart and open for gospel and willingly took a tract to read when her bus came.

7) Had a brief encounter with Moses, the friend of Ruth. His focus is still on secular wealth rather than spiritual wealth. Keep praying for him.

8 ) Then God led us to help out a Thailand woman to locate the right bus for her to go to the CBD. Had managed to share the nutshell of gospel to her but only finished half way. Yet she was willing to take a tract to learn about the unfinished part.

9) Then I tried to approach a Mainlander couple who managed to just take a tract from me and declined to listen on the spot. I nevertheless still a share the nutshell and left them with the tract.

10) Then I caught up with a middle age woman from Shanghai who initially showed interest to have a chat. But suddenly after the name of Jesus was mentioned she left me out of the blue.

11) Thanks God finally I have a previous chat with Victoria who is a cross breed of Korean mum and Romania dad. After I finished sharing the full gospel, she disclosed she is a Christian. But upon testing her assurance of salvation, she failed the test thinking she is not perfect enough yet. I clarified and restored her 100% assurance of salvation which she thanked me for that.

12) Last but not the least, I caught up with a Japanese young man Samoa who was brought to Australia by his Japanese parents for migration at young age as such he is now regarding himself as a fair Dink Kum Australian. He is non-religious, but the Spirit moved him to open up himself to the gospel and appeared very receptive to the redemptive grace of Jesus. He took a tract and also took a selfie with me to show his appreciation for the chat.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday Nov 14th, 2023 from 1330 – 1500

It was another scorching high noon day. Despite the temperature was registered as 29C, the actual heat at the bus stop is not a 100C furnace. Johnny and Hung simply treated it as part of the training to share the Gospel irrespective of the circumstances. Actually, the greater challenge is still the stone hard of most of the Mainlander people. Johnny learnt from one of the mainlander Christian he met at Sunnybank that, double the inflow of Mainlander students will be coming to Australia, yet all of them have been pre-warned not to Chat with local people about religion and politics. It reflects immediately for the current high rejection rate from the Mainlanders. Nevertheless, we still approached targeted people by the led of the Holy Spirit. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) I was moved to approach two students from Macau, , who should be more open then the Mainlander students. Both came for post graduate study and show little interest in religion. I nevertheless still managed to share them the nutshell of the gospel.

2) Reunited with two very keen mainlanders who behaviour exceptionally open to gospel. They actually have met either of us many times. So our catching up conversation are meant for another chance to invite them to make the last step of faith.

3) Lily from Northern QLD, recognized me and claimed we had chatted before. So I asked if she got the point of the tract which I found out later that was not yet the case. So reiterated the main lesson of the tract and appealed her to ponder deeper to see if she is not perfect enough that required for the salvation of Christ.

4) Then I caught up with Li? from Beijing, ( )who have come here as interchange students ( for three months only. She was comparatively opened and was OK to listen to the gospel and took a tract afterwards.

5) Then I caught up with a couple from Chengdu who were moving from Sunnybank to students hostel in St Lucia. They were reluctant listeners and refused a tract.

6) I caught up with a Korean atheist who is indifferent to the gospel but still listen reluctantly and took a tract afterwards.

7) Then I caught up next with a big fellow from Jiangsu Nanchong who was a willing listener to the gospel . He was attentive to the message as such he almost missed his bus.

8 ) Yet another brief chat with a Mailander girl?, as her bus came fairy quick.

9) Snay is an Aussie girl with a French name but parents are from Welsh. She was very friendly and polite to listen to the full gospel sharing even though she is of Catholic Chrisitan background. I tested for her assurance of salvation which she failed. But was happy to be clarified with the correct attitude.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

The writer of these posts took a week off after the trip to Wellington (with Craig and Calvary Wellington Church).

And this week was a ‘normal’ week of street outreach: Tuesday afternoon in Riccarton with Roger; Friday afternoon in the city with Andy, Greg, and Roger; Saturday morning in Riccarton, and then Sunday afternoon in the city with Susan.

So, this report will cover this week of street outreach, but before I get into it, if you are reading this, can I just ask you to pray for the next 2 weeks of special outreaches.  Next week we’ll be at the Canterbury A&P Show (Wed 15th Nov, till Friday 17th of Nov).  We have hired a site at the show where we will be sharing the gospel with hundreds of people via the ‘good person test’ flip chart.  The hours will be from 8am till 5:30pm.  And on Thursday we go till 7:30pm.  So big days of gospel outreach.  We have a team of 6 for Wednesday, 8 for Thursday, and 12 for Friday, which is a public holiday and very busy!

Please pray for stamina, favour with authority, that Christians would be encouraged in sharing the gospel, and that many lost would hear the gospel.  And that ultimately God would be glorified through our obedience to proclaim and through people coming to understand his justice and his mercy.

Secondly, on Saturday the 18th, I’m flying to the Gold Coast to join the team for the Schoolies outreach.  This outreach is basically an ‘ambulance at the bottom of the cliff’.  Schoolies is billed as “the best week of your life”, which sadly means a week of drunkenness and sexual immorality for kids that have just finished high school.  After the first night, we have many long chats with some of these kids who are processing what life is all about.  We get to share the hope of the gospel.  So, for the week, starting on the 18th, that’s what we will be doing everyday.  The prayer request is the same as for the Canterbury A&P Show ^.  Thanks!

Okay, now to the report for this week!

So, Tuesday in Riccarton.  The highlight was a really encouraging chat with a young man going past.  He started the chat saying he wasn’t very sure about what happens after life.  But near the end of the chat he said, “you’ve changed my mind”!  At the very least he was grasping the gospel.  I pointed him to ‘John’ in the Bible, and also a local church.  Roger also had some encouraging chats.

On Friday I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and lacking in energy.  In those moments, I default to finding a spot and handing out tracts with a smile.  And yet, I was quickly into a chat.  Sadly, the guy was subtly resistant.  I think he was hearing and understanding the simple concepts I was explaining, but he didn’t like the implications, and so would interrupt and change the subject.  There wasn’t much point in forcing it, so we soon parted ways with a handshake.

By this stage, Andy had arrived, and soon after Roger.  I was in a chat with a regular, when Greg came past to join as well.  Andy and Greg teamed up.  Roger had his flip, and with the way I was feeling, I decided to go for a wander.

I ended up going to spots I don’t normally go to, and I ended up having a great chat with a young man from the UK, down by the Avon River.  He initially rejected a tract, but I was able to ask him what he thinks happens after life.  He was intrigued, and we were into it.  His background was Catholic, and he defaulted to good deeds for heaven.  The law and gospel were shared.

Later, I was back near Roger (who seemed to have the fish jumping into his boat).  He had a guy approach him, and fell into a chat that seemed to be going well.  I noticed a friend cut into the conversation, and so I went over to handle him, so Roger wouldn’t lose his chat.  It worked out, and I ended up having a good chat with the guy.  From Ireland, he was in NZ on a working holiday, ‘making the most of life, because there is nothing after’.  Well, he came to hear the good news - but it certainly wasn’t good news to him.  For him, making the most of life seemed to involve sin, something he was not willing to let go of.

A shorter than usual  outreach in Riccarton on Saturday, I had one of my regulars stop for a chat early on.  I was able to reiterate the law and the gospel non-directly (i.e., using the flow of the conversation to insert it appropriately).  He was resistant, but we parted on good terms.

Later I had a quick law and gospel chat with 3 (or 4?) guys.  In response to my question: ‘what happens after life?’, they gave 3 different responses: 1) reincarnation, 2) nothing, 3) heaven and hell.  Those are the standard responses!  They were all in different places, but they all heard the law and the gospel.  1 in particular seemed focused on what I was saying.  Yet, who knows what the result will be?  Keep faithfully scattering the seed!

Sunday was warm.  In the city, and I really became aware of the angst around the whole Israel / Hamas war.  There are competing posters and stickers plastered everywhere!  The only solution is the gospel.

To my amazement, as I was walking down the mall, I passed a guy with his phone sitting next to him, and he had a pro Palestine sticker.  I stopped to engage him, and he was very happy to talk about it.  Using Israel / Hamas as a starting point, I wanted to know what his ultimate goal was, he eventually said, “a single state, where everyone gets along”.  How are we going to achieve that?  It led to a discussion on how we know God is real, justice, hell, and how do we get mercy?  I was able to touch on the gospel, but in his resistance he wasn’t really ready for it.  Yet, as I gently and calmly persisted, he was willing to admit that there was logic to what I was saying.  He had to go to work, and, to my surprise, accepted a tract, as I wanted him to contact me so I could address the important questions he was raising.  He said he might do that!

By this stage, Susan was with me.  We continued down the mall seeking walk up chats, when we bumped into a group that supports Israel!  Susan and I were able to get into a chat with one of them.  Interestingly, her points were similar to my previous chat: hatred at injustice.  The only solution is Messiah!  People who understand his justice AND mercy are changed.  And hate is turned to love.  I was able to touch on the law, and then the gospel, but she then shut the conversation down - yet she also took a tract.

Other chats were had, but I’m out of time.  (Nic, I saw Max again, just as the outreach was ending!  God is on his case!)

So, please keep us in prayer for next week, at the Canterbury A&P Show ^.  All glory to God alone!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Nov 1st 2023 from 1300-1500

Today I had to do my Bladder Cancer post operation third Biopsy check (1st is 3 months, 2nd is 6 months, and the 3rd is one year). Therefore only Johnny, Qin Hao and Amy Yao were available for the Sunnybank Gospel outreach. Praise be to God, Amy led a man from Shangdong to Christ doing the conversion prayer. He has come to Australia for 20 years and once followed friends to attend church service for several times. He even has a Bible at home. So today, through this divine encounter, God used Amy through the work of the Holy Spirit to move this man to officially accept Jesus as his savior.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday Nov 7th, 2023 from 1330 – 1500
There was scattered rain in the morning but the sky was cleared when we start our outreach at Toowong. But the raining day already set the tone for today evangelism which was tough and unsteady with little results. Basically, majority of people we met were from Mainland and it seemed that they have just received order from the mainland government to avoid talking to Christian and forbidden absolute to receive any tract from us. It happened almost identically to all the Mainlander students we met. Rather the Indian of Hinduism appeared more opened than any of the mainlander. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) An AI guy from the Mainlander claimed he chatted with me just last week. But afterwards I cross check that it was false, he might have mixed up me with Johnny but he used his logical minded training to pick bone from and egg.
2) A group of three Mainlander boys kept mocking Johnny and me and in the meantime, interfere our conversation with other Mainlander people.
3) A Mainliner girl was originally OK for a chat but she felt threatened by the surveillance of that threesome boys.
4) Then I was led to catch up with a Singaporean boy who was not interested as he was busy in revision and preparing for Exam
5) Then I caught up with a Mainlander girl from Shenzhen. . The chat was OK but at the end, she still turned down my offer to her our tract.
6) Then I was able to catch up with a Malaysian girl who also was reluctant to listen half-heartedly.
7) Then I caught up with a Mainlander girl doing Biology. She also indicated no interest to the topic, then I turned to share with her the scientific aspects of the 6 days Creation which she found very interesting and convincing.
8 ) Then I was led to approach an Indian student majoring in mechanical engineering with an objective to get a mining job to apply for PR. Despite his Hinduism belief, he basically appeared open and rational and end up finding the gospel message is sensible and trustworthy.
9 ) Finally I caught with any Mainlander girl who also listened half-heartedly and finally reject taking the tract.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Nov 1st 2023 from 1300-1500

Praise be to God we had three member today namely Johnny Hung and Qin Hao. The last one actually was busy in his BST assignment and exam preparation but still squeeze an hour to team us to serve at Sunnybank. God gave us many divine appointments reaching out to people apparently elected by God. For instance, I caught up with a young girl whom I met 3 three years ago at the MMM annual dinner brought along by Dolly as her home stay mum. After three years study at CItipointe, she is about to graduate. So, our encounter really served as a check point of her faith after a three years study at at Chrisitan School. Pray that all the gospel chats will serve the purpose of God and bear fruit in His time. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung:

1) First approach was a Korean Christian lady. But she seemed to be a bit insecure in chatting with stranger lacking of confidence. I test her assurance of salvation which she answered Q1 correctly having 100% of assurance but when asked Q2 about why. She then refused to discuss and left cutting the conversation to an end.

Could not and do not want to answer the Two diagnostic questions

2) Then I turned to a lady from Guangdong who speaks Cantonese. She was surprisingly opened and was attracted to both the gospel sharing realizing the sin and helplessness of all human and yet was happy to hear my testimony how the grace of God saved and healed me from Cancer illnesses. Prause be to God for a softened soul ready to receive Christ.

3) Ahmet having chat ted with Qin Hao, but I was moved to dig deeper into his soul and elaborated the gospel in greater details that I believed has impressed him especially about the issue of sin and how it was addressed by God that is different from all other gods of other religion. Our conversation was cut short when his friend was looking for him to meet nearby. I later went to where he waited for his friends and took a few close shots of him.

4) Then I was led to approach a Filipino Chrisitan who has no assurance of salvation. It was a pity the bus quick arrival robbed me to chance to clarify.

5) Then I caught up with a couple of Indonesian who claimed they are Buddhist. I assert to them that it is good to have faith of any region which after all guide people to be a good persons. But none of them except Christianity address the issue of sins. I even told them there is an antique plague in ancient word which was translated lately showing that even the Budda considered himself not perfect and calling for the need to be saved by a Saviour. They listened with interest and took the tract to learn more about the Chrisitan faith.

6) Then I tried to chat with a lady from HKG who sat beside me. But she showed great resistance to the gospel despise she know I am a Hongkongers.

7) Then it was a privilege to catch up with Faith who is half PNG and half Aussie. She was delighted to chat and was thankful to me for helping her to establish her assurance of salvation. She showed her appreciation by taking selfie with me.

8 ) Then I caught up with Maria from Colombia who is a Catholic Chrisitan but surprising ly she pass the diagnosis test of assurance of salvation. She also showed great appreciation of our outreach effort.

9) Then I Caught up with an ABC who is open to chat, but the bus arrival cut our conversation short.

10) Finally, God led me to reunited with Julia after a lapse of three years. She was the home stay student of Dolly studying at Citi pointe Chrisitan School though she is still not a Chrisitan. We met at the MMM annua dinner when she first arrived at Brisbane. She was invited by Dolly to join our MMM annual dinner. Actually, it was Julia who recognized me and we had a good chat of the gospel which she admitted it was frequently shared and heard at Citi pointe. For some reason, she is still not moved to surrender her life to Christ. But she also showed great appreciation of our gospel outreach efforts.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday October 31st, 2023 from 1330 – 1500

It was a scorching hot day of 34C, but the fervent for the gospel was even stronger to help Johnny and Hung to overcome the heat wave but had a fruitful street ministry at the Toowong Bus Stop which will turn into a furnace even in a normal sunny day, not to mention a super high temperate day like today. As usual, we both faced many rejections, but by the grace of God, some was softened and turned around to hear the gospel from their initial rejection status. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) I was moved to approach four Mainlander Chinese males who were chatting amongst themselves. I was able to break the ice by asking around where they were from. Actual one is from Tsen Zhou of Suzhou?SekjiaChong of He Bei and Wen Zhou of Jie Jiang. One joined us late so I did not know his home town. I used my Disaster relief work to identify with them as their compatriot that love and help people from the Sichuan earth quake. With this lead about doing a lot of charity work, will it be good enough to qualify us to Heaven. It was really the gracious act of God to let me chip into their conversation and finish the full gospel before their bus came.

2) Then I caught up with an Aussie girl with 1 min left to brief her the nutshell of the gospel and gave her a tract.

3) Then I was led to catch up with Amelia , a local Aussie of Ireland origin and shared with her the full gospel.

4) Next was a USA(dad) & Japanese (mum) cross breed girl who was impressed by my Japanese greeting. And she quickly identified herself as Christian which is basically her family (dad)'s faith. Though she failed the test of assurance of Salvation, not 100% sure she can go to heaven, but was glad I clarified this with her that our status of God's people with the gift of eternal life has been given to us the moment we received Christa as our Savior. She was thankful for my clarification.

5) Then I was politely rejected by a Mainlander lady claiming she was busy in doing something on her phone so ask to be excused from further chatting. I knew it was an excuse, but I was moved to let go.

6) Then I was led to approach Chang ?also from Mainland who claimed he had chatted ith many of us before more than once. So I said it was even better then I could hear about his feedback on the message he heard and read from the tract. It anyway gave me chance to pin point the need for every person good or bad that as long as we are not perfect we all need Jesus. I pray and trust this time, he would get the gospel message impressive enough for him to ponder the need to make the last step of faith.

7) Then I was led to approach yet another local Aussie from local Brisbane. She just chose to bluntly reject me claiming she is all right. I was moved by the Spirit to follow on this statement I used to say to those evangelist before. And the Spirit obviously had softened her heart and allowed me to share her the full gospel and took a tract to read afterwards. I was grate for the whispering guidance of the Spirit to prompt me to take different actions against those overt rejecting persons.

8 )  Aden a n Indonesia young man from Jakarta. He was surprisingly open to the gospel despite he admitted he is Muslim. He even admitted we are sinner beyond redemption and only Jesus can save. So he joyously took a selfie with me after the gospel sharing.

9) Then God gave me another gospel opportunity to chat with Kathleen from Wisconsin who is a non-believer but with Christian school background and many Christian friends around. She admitted the gospel message is familiar but cannot tell what held her up to make the last step of faith action. I said I could identify with her as I was brought up from Christian primary school but it took me 40 years to surrender to God. I pledge her to seriously ponder and pray to God and receive Christ the earlier the better as we cannot have control of our life. She was moved and impressed and promise to do so and also graciously took a selfie with me , so I can recognize her in case we do not meet again until the time of rapture at the heaven gate.

10) Finally I faced another blunt rejection from yet another Mainlander girl , which I was led to just let go.

 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

This report will cover the last 3 days of the outreach to the Wellington region, with Craig Godfrey and the team at Calvary Wellington Church.

On Wednesday we spent the morning in Porirua City and then the afternoon in Lower Hutt.  On Thursday, we spent the whole day in Lower Hutt.  And then finally on Friday, we were in Central Wellington: in the morning we were around the Cuba Street Mall, and then in the afternoon we were down on the waterfront and then finished the outreach on Lambton Quay.

What a blast!  It’s so good to do street outreach in new locations - new fishing holes, with new and interesting fish to talk with!

It wasn’t too busy in Porirua on Wednesday morning, but there were still plenty of people to talk to.  My first chat of the day was special, it was with a young man who looked pretty down and out.  He knew about Christian things, but I don’t think he had really considered the implications, I could tell, because as we slowed down and really processed the bad news, and the good news of Jesus, you could see his joy as he came to truly understand.

As the morning progressed, we had Lou Johns, Parking & Bylaws Officer for the Porirua City Council come and tell us that we were not allowed to approach people for conversations in their city!  I was shocked!  It’s been a long while since my false fears of authority had been tested.  I decided to play it as a ‘good cop’ - not being intimidated, but at the same time standing for our legal right to talk to people!  The conversation ended well, and I’m in email contact with her.  If I had the time, I’d like to challenge the Council further on their restrictions.

Anyway, we moved down to the train station, and in accordance with Lou’s instructions I didn’t approach anyone for conversations.  Instead, I stood on the wide part of the foot path (as instructed) and with a smile handed out tracts.  When you have a friendly smile, it encourages smiles in return.  It worked really well!  Some people would smile back, and then approach me to take a tract.  In this way, I was able to start conversations.  I had 2 really good conversations (although short ones) this way.

As Craig and I were scoping out the area for future outreaches, we also went to the skate park.  There I had a conversation with 4 young guys who looked quite intimidating!  Yet, when they could see we were friendly, the conversation went well.  The law and the gospel was heard, and tracts received.

After lunch, we headed back over the hills to Lower Hutt.  We found a great place for outreach at the corner of Queens Drive, Margaret & Bunny Streets.  As people would cross the street, many tracts were handed out and conversations were started.  June had joined us by this stage, and by 3 o’clock, things were really busy as school kids started going past.  We were supposed to finish at 4 pm, but it was so busy that we ended up continuing till 4:30pm.  We couldn’t just walk away from a fishing hole teaming with fish!  We even had one situation where someone who had heard their friends talking about the gospel, she came down to talk to us to find out for herself!

So, the next day, and in anticipation of some bad weather, we headed back to this same spot for the day.  I had some really special conversations in the morning esp.  One young lady stayed for a while and came to grasp the good news of Jesus.  I had an older lady stop: she had a Christian background, even went to a church every week, but she thought she had to ‘try’ to get to heaven.  By the end of the conversation she was understanding the difference between ‘trying’ and ‘trusting’, and the appropriate place of each in regards to justification and sanctification.  I could tell she was deeply impacted.  She said, “you are a good man”, and I responded with, “no, I’m a bad man, saved by Jesus who is good” - just as I said that, a man rushing past turned and looked at me.  Later, after I had finished talking to the lady, he rushed past again, going the other direction - I offered him a tract, but he refused.  But, a minute later, he came back.  He said he would take one.  He said he had a Christian background, but his faith wasn’t right: “maybe this is a sign from God”.  He couldn’t stay and talk, but I just love how God has people at the right place at the right time!  God is reaching the lost!

I was excited to finally get to Wellington Central on the last day of the week of outreach.  The weather was good!  Mara and Daniel joined Craig and I.  I was shocked at some graffiti, right across from a busy bus stop, that said, “Life Sucks Give Up”.  Oh, how people need the hope of Jesus!  My first major chat was special, with a young lady who claimed to be Christian, but gave human philosophy in regards to ‘self’ as her answer to why we go to heaven.  She heard the simple message of Jesus.  After that, many of the chats I had met people who were quite resistant.  But it was wonderful to labour the truth of Jesus with them.

It was great to pump out tracts to people on the waterfront and on Lambton Quay in the afternoon.  Many chats were also had, including a follow up!  We get around!

During the day, I also had multiple chats with people from Christchurch!

I was feeling quite exhausted while waiting for my return flight on Friday evening.  Yet, very grateful.  Grateful for the opportunity to come up to Wellington.  A shout out to Craig, who gave up a week of work to organise this week and to labour so tirelessly beside me for the whole week.  Also special thanks to Craig and Jan for hosting me for the week.  Your hospitality couldn’t have been better!  Thanks to Jarryd Alcorn and the crew at Calvary Wellington for allowing me to minister the gospel in connection with your church.  I hope you were encouraged and equipped in some way for the irksome task of evangelism!  The great commission.  Thank you to all those that were praying for us during this week.  All glory to God alone!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday October 25th 2023 from 1300-1500

Hurrah, praise be to the Lord for a great breakthrough of the simply mobilization of the Sherwood Church whole congregation to engage in holistic Great Commission. Their Chief Senior Pastor Samuel Chiu joined us today for the first time. And God blessed him with 5 or more gospel sharing conversations without a single rejection. It must have boost his experience of the presence of God when we work with Him for Gospel Outreach. So we had a very strong team of four, three from Sherwood Church namely, Rev Samuel Chiu, Johnny & Pastor Edwin Qin Hao and Hung. Apart from a handful of people from mainland China, God obviously had prepared the hearts from different cultural group and religion back ground to engage into sincere Gospel sharing conversation. My His Will be done through our humble service of cross-cultural outreach.
Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) I was led to approach first a Vietnamese but of Chinese origin from Chow Zhou who however speaks Cantonese. He was OK to chat but prefer to read the tract himself without listening to me.
2) Then I was led to approach Laisha a tall girl from Tonga who quickly identifies herself as Christian. And she past the Assurance test having 100% assurance of salvation simply because of the grace and work of Jesus. She was happy to notice that she is of the rare and precious minority having perfect understanding of our salvation. And she indicated that all her b & S are like her having a clear understanding of salvation.
3) Then I reunited with the rare Chinese House Church Christian from Liao Ning Shenyang She has orthodox belief and willingness to catch up and fellowship with me.
4) Next I was led to chat with a Sikh follower who has a simple heart and simple faith in a mono God. This is in line with Christianity and Islamic faith. But I pointed out to him that only Christianity address the issue of sin properly. I was moved to turn the chat into an apologetic sharing. He was amazed to find out the flawless nature of the Bible and all big and small revelation.
5)Then I was led to chat with a Mixed Japanese and Aussie , she claims she is an Atheist but still willing to listen to the gospel though only half done when the bus arrived. She was given a tract to see the unfinished story of God.
6) In between, there were intermittent blunt rejection. But it was fine as our outreach activity is of Spiritual Warfare nature that manifests the glory of God.
7) Then I turned to the Chinese mainlander on my left. She was planning to call her friend to pick her up at the bus stop. . She showed rare politeness and willingness to listen.
8 ) Then Johnny referred a young man Chan from Hong Kong to me. He has come to Brisbane for 2 years and was student of Griffith. He was open and humble to listen to the full Gospel.
9) A Born again Filipino Christian was happy to have a chat, and I proceeded to test her reassurance of salvation which was failed. But the bus came leaving no time for clarification.
10) Last but not the least, I bumped into a girl from Mongolia  Republic which we use to name as outer Mongolia. She graduated with her husband in FooChau, China and now have come to Australia for Master degree study. Her husband started doing Master of IT at QUT. She is yet to find a Master degree program for her possibly in Sydney. She is currently trying to look for pat time job that do not require high level of English. She appeared open and receptive to the gospel and felt impressed when I said I will pray for her finding part time job as well as fining Jesus. She showed her appreciation by taking a selfie with me.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Having a fantastic time in Wellington with Craig Godfrey and the team from Calvary Wellington Church.  I flew up on Saturday, and I had the opportunity to speak to Calvary Wellington on Sunday morning on the “Wisdom of Winning Souls” (Exodus 4:12-15).

 

On Monday (Labour Day, a public holiday) I ran my “Tell Me” training sessions in the morning to a group of 26, made up mostly of people from Calvary Wellington.  That’s the largest group I’ve had do the training, so that was really encouraging.

 

In the afternoon we went down to Petone Beach for the optional street outreach part of the training.  There were about 12 of us.  One of the things I struggle with in regards to this training outreach is balancing newbies with those that have more experience.  You just have to trust God with it!  I was praying for opportunities for me to get into a gospel conversation while a group from the training could listen in and see what they had been learning put into practice.  Well, while we were gathering, an elderly couple came past, and sat on the wall right next to us.  Here was my opportunity!  I gently sparked up a conversation, and when the opportunity was right (but not waiting too long), I swung the conversation to spiritual things.  It turned into a wonderful opportunity for those in the team that were already there to listen in!  The elderly lady had had a Christian background, but had rejected it when she was young.  Interestingly, it was apparent that she had never really understood what Christianity, and she was challenged to reconsider.  The both gladly accepted gospel tracts as they moved on.

 

Just after I finished that conversation, a guy on a bike went past, and Craig was able to get into a great gospel conversation for the team to listen to.  2 in a row!  Thank you Lord.

 

After this, we did our best to split the group up into pairs and step out in faith in starting gospel chats!  I was trying my best to rotate pairs around.  Many were keen just to observe at this stage, and that was fine!

 

For the rest of the outreach I had many gospel opportunities, the first went really well!  It was with 3 girls (and I had 2 others from our team with me).  It was a fairly text box chat, demonstrating what I had been teaching in the morning.  After that, the chats varied.  Some were with people that are open, some with people who were resistant.  And some were even awkward, as I made an effort to make gospel engagement for those I was paired with.  Yet, no chat is in vain, and many gospel tracts were also distributed.

 

At the end of the outreach, we debriefed and prayed.  What a great day!

 

On Tuesday (today), Craig and I headed up to the Upper Hutt Main Street for a day of outreach.  Jarryd, one of the pastors of Calvary Wellington, joined us for a couple of hours in the morning.  And Karen joined us briefly too.

 

The streets weren’t packed, but there were enough people to keep our small team busy for the day.  I had many wonderful conversations: some resistant, some open, and everything in between, here are just a few of the highlights:

 

Two guys heading to the gym.  I chatted with Nate, an unbeliever, while Jarryd chatted with John, a professing believer.  Nate followed along with the presentation and became mildly resistant, but he kept asking questions which I was able to address.  He heard the law and the gospel.  A good chat.

 

A Bhuddist, who denied God was real and articulated reincarnation in a way that was faithful to what Buddhism actually teaches.  So I knew he wasn’t nominal in his faith.  So I asked him, “who makes the rules for right and wrong?”  It stumped him.  I laboured with the building / builder analogy for about 10 minutes, when he suddenly conceded: “Yeah, it makes sense”.  He then opened up to hear the law and the gospel, and walked off reading a tract.

 

An Atheist!  I spent about 15 minutes labouring with the cosmological argument and other logic.  Although he was friendly, he was really resistant.  I knew I wasn’t going to make any progress, so I shut down that chat, and we moved on with a handshake - he refused a tract.  That was just before lunch.  Amazingly, as Craig and I were having lunch in Subway, he came in and sat just across from me - we acknowledged each other.  And then later in the afternoon, he was coming up the street again and we got into another chat.  This time it was different.  He wanted to talk about work (we both have backgrounds in IT) and I went with that for a while.  He was different, he seemed open.  And so I was able to swing the conversation back to spiritual things, and, glory to God, I was able to take him through the law and the gospel (although it was brief).  This time, as we parted ways, he took a tract!  I was encouraged.

 

I had a difficult chat with two young ladies.  They were nice, but very resistant.  One of them in particular was very angry that God would allow innocent children to suffer.  I knew if I pushed, then it would go “nuclear”.  They made statements that were direct contradictions and couldn’t see it, so blinded by their emotion.  I think I started that chat with tracts, and so at least they left with those.

 

I could write more, but I’m out of time.  I praise God, and thank him for his help in the first half of this week in Wellington.  All glory to him!  Please keep us in prayer as we continue this week of outreach.

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